Ten of the top 30 most competitive cities in the world are in the US, with New York taking the top spot, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit and commissioned by Citi.

The 120 “Hot Spot” cities have a combined population of 750 million and generated GDP of $20.24 trillion in 2011, representing around 29 per cent of the world economy.

The 10 most competitive cities within the US are: New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Seattle and Philadelphia.

The 10 most competitive cities in the world are: New York, London, Singapore, Paris and Hong Kong (joint fourth), Tokyo, Zurich, Washington, DC, Chicago and Boston.

As the cities were judged on a number of competitiveness factors, US and European cities featured prominently in the index despite economic growth lagging behind that in Asia. When the cities were ranked purely on economic competitiveness, Asian cities performed much better, taking 15 of the top 20 spots.

"Economic dynamism is definitely rising elsewhere, especially in Asian cities, but US and European cities have legacy advantages that give them a strong competitive edge," said Leo Abruzzese, the EIU's global forecasting director.

Specifically, “Old World” cities were found to have an edge when it came to attracting top talent, and European and US cities dominated the index in terms of their ability to attract capital, businesses, talent and tourists.

Part of New York’s pull is its thriving venture capital industry – second only as a source of venture capital funding in the US to Silicon Valley. However, somewhat surprisingly, the city struggled in terms of human capital, ranking in eighteenth place when judged on this score alone.

The Big Apple has implemented initiatives to boost its competitiveness, the study recognized, including the new applied science and engineering campus being created with Cornell University and The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which is expected to generate $6 billion in economic activity, according to the report.

Meanwhile, mid-size cities, with populations of 2 million-5 million, are emerging as critical engines of economic growth, featuring highly in the league table based purely on economic strength. These include Abu Dhabi, Lima, Bandung, Dalian, Hangzhou, Hanoi, Pune, Qingdao and Surabaya. By contrast, just nine megacities ranked in the top 30 when based on economic strength alone. The economies of these mid-size cities are forecast to expand 8.7 per cent annually over the next five year, says EIU – clocking up growth faster than the megacities on which many firms focus.

For emerging market economies, one of the biggest challenges will be creating the right infrastructure in major cities to attract top talent in the future. This means not only focusing on skyscrapers and rail links, but developing measures such as personal freedom, quality of life and access to education, for example, says the EIU. Improving these aspects of “soft infrastructure” could quickly boost the competitiveness of cities in Latin America and Africa, the report recommends.

The Global City Competitiveness Index measures cities across eight categories and 31 individual indicators. The categories are economic strength, human capital, institutional effectiveness, financial maturity, global appeal, physical capital, social and cultural character and environment and natural hazards, with a city's overall ranking being a weighted score of the underlying categories.